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| 0373128932
| 9780373128938
| 0373128932
| 3.38
| 329
| Sep 04, 2009
| Jan 26, 2010
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did not like it
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10 pages into the story: Having a hot night of one-night-stand with a sexy rich guy is alright, I mean life is short so why don't you enjoy yourself w
10 pages into the story: Having a hot night of one-night-stand with a sexy rich guy is alright, I mean life is short so why don't you enjoy yourself while you can? But why would the girl think anything meaningful can come up out of it!? Stupid girl! Upadated@16/11/2023: I can't do this to myself anymore!!! The heroine is unlikable, the male lead is just one of these cardboard cutout romance novel heroes, and I have problems understanding the motive beyond the heroine's every decision making! I have to abandon this stuff! PS: thanks goodness this story only came to me in a 3 stories in 1 packaged deal! ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Feb 16, 2023
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Nov 17, 2023
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Feb 16, 2023
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Mass Market Paperback
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| 3.87
| 1,933
| Oct 01, 2019
| 2019
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did not like it
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Just this morning I told a fellow GR friend "I don't want to bring down the wrath of Lu's fangirls on myself yet", but now..........I changed my mind:
Just this morning I told a fellow GR friend "I don't want to bring down the wrath of Lu's fangirls on myself yet", but now..........I changed my mind: I am so pissed off just by looking at the book's cover. This is not my Batman. Before you say anything about how and why I shouldn't rate a book before it even comes out, hear me out: I'd read the novel this graphic novel is supposed to be based on, and to be honest, that novel is a piece of garbage. Okay, it looks like Marie Lu is gonna do the artwork for this graphic novel herself since I can't find any illustrator being listed as a co-author, and to be fair, Lu's illustration is indeed lovely. However, given this graphic novel's shitty source-material, I can only give this...thing 1 star. Trust me, you can't wrap a piece of crap with beautiful wrapping and then convince me it suddenly isn't crap any more. I had said it once and I will say it here again: if you wanted better written Batman's stories, try Frank Miller, Jeph Loeb, Grant Morrison, Alan Moore, Scott Snyder etc. The list of good Batman authors go on and on and on, and Marie Lu is definitely not among that list. ...more |
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1
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not set
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not set
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Jun 09, 2019
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Paperback
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| 0525707816
| 9780525707813
| 0525707816
| 3.82
| 16,052
| Nov 19, 2019
| Nov 19, 2019
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Pre-review
I don't care too much for this upcoming series (just in case it eventually gets published) anymore than I do with other upcoming YA fant Pre-review I don't care too much for this upcoming series (just in case it eventually gets published) anymore than I do with other upcoming YA fantasy series. I added this book into my To-Read List mostly for the beautiful book cover. I pressed the To-Read button, then I moved back on to continue drowning myself in Batman fanfics online (that's what I spend most of my time doing these days instead of finish reading real books). Then just days ago I became aware of all the dramas surrounding the supposed racist problem and the treatment of black people and Russian culture within the story, to the point that author Amelie Wen Zhao decided to cancel her book. Since hardly anyone has yet read the actual book (aside from a small group of people who got the ARC) I can only learn about the supposed racist problems from articles and stuff. And I'm dumbfounded to find the 'crimes' Ms. Zhao has been accused of committing have already been committed by so many other YA novelists in the past. And guess what, none of those novelists have been attacked into canceling any of their damn books! (1) Magical Negro stereotype and a black skinned girl dying to fulfill the white-shinned heroine's character development? Has any of you read Sarah J. Maas' Throne of Glass series before? Plus anyone remembers what had happened to (view spoiler)[Rue (hide spoiler)] in The Hunger Games? (2) Mistreatment of Russian culture? It's so old news! Leigh Bardugo had done it repeatedly in her fantasy series and I have barely seen anyone being grossed out by it. Plus it's not just Russian culture, I don't remember there are that many people getting turned off by Colleen Houck's awful treatment to Hindu culture and many other cultures in the past. Instead far too many readers are making excuses such as 'it's just fiction'. (3) However, as for the claims that the critics are 'silencing' an Asian female author's chance to give voice to herself. I mean, come on. Ethnic minority authors need to be called out too when they are being racist for real. Being an Asian and a woman should never become a 'getting out of jail' card. So, what is the point of all the fuss and witch-hunting? I'm not saying Ms. Zhao must be wonderful and flawless, but shouldn't people be allowed to read her book first then make up their minds later? Update: so eventually Zhao published her trilogy anyway, good for her, but her books aren't going up anywhere near the front of my To-Read List any time too soon. ...more |
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0
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not set
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not set
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Jan 17, 2019
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ebook
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| 957328250X
| 9789573282501
| 957328250X
| 3.72
| 370,267
| Jul 30, 2015
| Apr 27, 2018
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did not like it
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[image] (link: https://giphy.com/gifs/marilyn-manson...) In a Dark, Dark Wood is my second book by Ruth Ware, sadly it doesn't outshine the first book w [image] (link: https://giphy.com/gifs/marilyn-manson...) In a Dark, Dark Wood is my second book by Ruth Ware, sadly it doesn't outshine the first book which I'd read, The Woman In Cabin 10. (my review of this book can be found here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) Plus...for the love of goodness, please don't compare Ruth Ware with Agatha Christie, Ware doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence with the Queen of Murder. So...what is wrong? Let's do a checklist: (1) unlikable, pathetic heroine: *sighs* I just have no respect toward a 26 years old woman who is still moaning and bitching about an old boyfriend she had when she was 16 years old, to a point she is unable to form long term relationship with someone else, for 10 long years. It is not some cheesy cheap romance, for crying out loud. I know, she supposedly has a reason to always think about said boyfriend, but it takes me to another point: how pathetic can she (I don't care she was only 16 when it happened) get when (view spoiler)[she allowed herself to be dumped through text messages instead of woman-up and confronting the boy who accidentally got her pregnant, face to face?! (hide spoiler)] What kind of spineless, pathetic lowlife would allow this shit to fall on her!? I am also surprised to learn this MC is supposed to be a crime novelist, she doesn't act like she knows any shit about crime investigation or some basic know-hows when she and her friends are at risk. (2) the same old, same old 'unreliable female narrator' trick again: *yawns* you know what? This setup about an 'unreliable female narrator' who conveniently lost her memory and can't remember the key details of a murder is getting so damn old! (3) the identity of the murderer is *ways* too obvious: I don't want to sound smug, but the identity of the murderer is really easy to guess when one certain character acts so obviously like a manipulative asshole *and* a textbook case of a fake-friend who I can totally see backstabbing other people with a smile, then I know who is the murderer. In the end, I am correct--even after one or two characters being thrown in by the author in order to act as suspects to throw us off her track, it still doesn't work. Therefore, as a murder mystery, this book totally fails. (4) the murderer...is killing people for *that reason*!? Well, I'm not saying his/her motive is entirely impossible, but who on earth cares about (view spoiler)[your boyfriend is going to dump you before the wedding? Who cares that you aren't the perfect girl you always pretend to be? (hide spoiler)] Why must the murderer turn out such a goddamn drama queen!? Anyway, I think I just have problem with the murderer is killing people just because he/she is crazy/selfish/evil/mentally ill. This is totally one dimensional. (5) in the end I just don't care anymore: The characters? They feel like a bunch of pawns to be moved around for the sake of plot convenience. The heroine is a pathetic weakling who barely ever stand up for herself, her relationship with her old friends and her old boyfriend are so fucking boring, even the cops (who show up in the last half of the book) are boring too. In the end, I'm so damn disappointed. That's all you can dish out, Ms. Ware!? Well, this time I can list out 20 Japanese crime novelists who can do a better job than this book. Even Kanae Minato, a female novelist whom I think is grossly overrated, can write better story than this. ...more |
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1
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Oct 06, 2018
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Oct 18, 2018
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Oct 06, 2018
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Paperback
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| 0765387468
| 9780765387462
| 0765387468
| 4.31
| 172,658
| Feb 21, 2017
| Feb 21, 2017
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it was ok
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Pre-review:
after reading two books, I came to realize Lila Brad is a worse 'thief with a heart of gold'-character than Kaz Brekker. Case closed. R Pre-review: after reading two books, I came to realize Lila Brad is a worse 'thief with a heart of gold'-character than Kaz Brekker. Case closed. Review for book 2: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... actually review starts here: (1) The book is overly long. This book is in fact long but for all the wrong reasons! For example, point #2... (2) Too many minor characters and their backstories slowing the main plot down. I don't care about the backstories of the king and queen of Red London or those palace guards! They are only background characters in the first two books and I have no reason to care for them and their feelings! And it's entirely upsetting when I noticed all the extra chapters about the king are mostly an advertisement for the spin-off Steel Prince novella/comic! (3) The arch villain is anticlimactic and shallow. The bad guy fancies himself a god..........but his activities are limited in Red London only.......how frightening...plus his personality and motivation is so bloody hell shallow. [image] (link: https://giphy.com/gifs/buster-keaton-...) (4) The main romance is bloodless, forced and with zero chemistry. Kell and Lila, they came to know each other for about....three or four months? And they barely ever sat down and learnt things about one another but then all of a sudden...they are in love!? What the hell!? [image] (link: https://giphy.com/gifs/shipping-now-k...) (5) The ending is entirely, utterly uneventful. (view spoiler)[The main characters sailed to somewhere to get this magical device and used it to trap the bad guy inside and then gave the device (with the powerful bad guy still inside) to some hapless, clueless young man in Grey London. (hide spoiler)] That is it? That is it? Are you kidding me!? Not to mention, (view spoiler)[Holland and Ojka (my favorite characters) both winded up dead rather meaninglessly and things are still bad for White London! (hide spoiler)] This is some mother fucking injustice! (6) Even the gay side-pairing gets flat and long-winded. Alucard (I need to suppress the urge to giggle every time I see this name) and Prince Rhy used to be doing okay in the second book, but in this book........although I like them as individual characters but together they are flat and lifeless. (7) I don't mean to say this book is all bad, period. Despite the mind breaking boredom and the slow-paced story (thing got so bad that I needed to skim all the way to the ending since pg. 200), Ms. Schwab's writing remains highly skilled and qualified and rich; but why must such good writing be wasted on flat characters, unbearable Mary Sue (Lila) and a choppy finale like this!? My review for The Near Witch by the same author: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Aug 19, 2018
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Nov 12, 2018
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Aug 14, 2018
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Hardcover
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| 1907411224
| 9781907411229
| 1907411224
| 4.12
| 16,648
| Nov 22, 2012
| Jan 03, 2013
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did not like it
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Let it be noted that I skimmed through most of the book in the matter of mere hours and I didn't find this book interesting and flashed-out enough to
Let it be noted that I skimmed through most of the book in the matter of mere hours and I didn't find this book interesting and flashed-out enough to deserve my attention of reading it word-to-word. [image] (Link: https://giphy.com/gifs/mm-like-a-boss...) So what's in store for us this time? A heroine who is as funny and clever as a doormat, who is pinned after by two hot guys (one prince charming and one brooding bad boy, any one?), lot and lot of teenage soap operatic love dramas and love triangle which drown out everything else in the story (e.g. the supposedly important conspiracy surrounding the school which has kind of gotten shoved to the background). Plus what is the deal with a boy telling his girlfriend not to hang out with her other suitor!? Since when it's okay for a guy to tell his girlfriend whom she can befriend!? Nothing about the conspiracy and the heroine's mysterious family background has gotten any explanation neither, AND NOTHING HAPPENS THROUGHOUT THE STORY. I'm so fucking done. I will drop this series entirely. ...more |
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1
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Mar 03, 2018
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Mar 29, 2018
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Mar 03, 2018
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Paperback
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| B0117K9N3Q
| 4.59
| 684,858
| Sep 27, 2016
| Sep 27, 2016
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it was ok
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Review for book 1: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... Melissa Stacy's review for Six Of Crows which points out plenty of things which I failed to Review for book 1: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... Melissa Stacy's review for Six Of Crows which points out plenty of things which I failed to notice before. Rating: 2 stars. Again I think this story would have worked out great as a TV series, but as a novel, the story falls increasingly flat and the plot just drags on and on and on.
That, has to be worst thing I've seen in a YA book in the recent years. @page 307: Is something wrong with me for finding this Migos' music video about some rappers dressing up as gangsters to be more entertaining than this book? With the most badass line ever: Time to go to sleep! Watch out! [image] (Link: https://gfycat.com/gifs/detail/glossy...) Music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI-mX... Full on rant starts here, don't like don't read: One day, I looked back at Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn novels, then I suddenly remembered why I got so annoyed by Leigh Bardugo so called 'high fantasy novels' and 'amazing plot twits'; because comparing to what Sanderson can write within 450 pages, this 500+ pages Crooked Kingdom feels hopelessly long-winded and tiring, and its characters flat, shapeless and damn boring. Let's do a breakdown! ********Warning: both marked and unmarked plot spoilers below!******** (1) Too fucking much flashbacks and backstories that weighen the whole story down: Now, this one is the biggest flaw of this book in my eyes. As much as I like learning about characters' backstories and where they came from, still as with Six of Crows, the flashbacks and backstories in Crooked Kingdom are all so very 'in-your-face' that whatever subtly of characterization is lost entirely. Everyone has a sob story, even Jesper's mom and dad get one too so it is simply getting ridiculous; plus these sob stories are badly inserted into the storyline and Bardugo seems to have a thing about inserting backstories when important events are about to go down or in the middle of an action scene, I don't know why she would think it's a good idea. I had seen on Youtube a booktuber talks about what she thinks about the flashbacks in Six of Crows: "Well, I don't know you that well, we are not that close, I don't need to know it yet" and I feel the same. (2) The heist is not as exciting nor clever as everyone and their mothers had been telling you: Basically they just (view spoiler)[make up a false plague panic and pretend to shoot a character to death then everything is good again. Plus the bad guys didn't even check the boy's corpse personally to make sure he is really deader than dead, how pathetic. I mean, I do like the false plague alarm but the rest of the heist...not so much. (hide spoiler)] Some of you probably want to know how Kaz managed to defeat Pekka Rollins, right? Let me tell you what went down: (view spoiler)[Kaz threatened Rollins with his son's life, which would have been fine and clever enough, but the problem is, Kaz had never ever kidnapped Rollins' son before he made this threat, in fact he had never laid eyes on Rollins' son in his life! Kaz simply fished out a toy lion and waved it in front of Rollins then the older man instantly believed Kaz had really kidnapped his son and is ready to go down on his knees to beg for his son's life! (hide spoiler)] How pathetic! Bottom line: I would have respect it if Kaz actually (view spoiler)[kidnapped Rollins' son and threatened the latter with the boy's life, but Kaz managing to threaten Rollins without even having to kidnap the boy first and Rollins actually buying his shit? (hide spoiler)] That's just down right insulting. Not to mention, no matter how difficult and impossible the situations had turned out to be, Kaz always had a way to work things out nicely! Nothing could ever go wrong! It would have been okay if only thing like this only happen a few times, but a whole 500+ pages book with this same shit being repeated over and over again? That's too much. (3) Shitty justification of 'the bad things done by the villains are bad, but the bad things done by the main characters are excusable': 55 pages into the story, I've already gotten tired of the shitty justification that 'the bad things done by the bad guys are bad, but the bad things done by the main characters are excusable'. Killing someone just because he is in your way and then justifying the murder with some lame excuse about (view spoiler)[ the murdered victim being a blackmailer (hide spoiler)]? That sucks, that is so uncool. (4) Poor explanation for way too many things in the story: @page 176: 'Per Haskell was still the leader of the Dregs'? You said, Kaz? Come on, that setting about the internal power structure of the Dregs makes no sense to me, what kind of gang leader (in this case, Per Haskell) would allow his 'lieutenant' to take a major job (The Ice Court job from SoC) without letting him know any of the significant details, without keeping track of his minors' where about, without any other noticeable lieutenants to balance the power within the gang, and even without one single bodyguard to watch his back? In a realistic world, this kind of gang leader won't last even a year. @page 224: we are also supposed to believe an evil father would hire some killers to do away his unwanted teenage son even before said evil father's pregnant wife could safely deliver a healthy baby to him first. Does this guy know women and babies tend to die at childbirth in the era this story is supposed to take place? Hahaha! Plus, for a story so filled with gangsters and lower class labors and residents from a slum, hardly anyone has ever sworn, the most I can see is a 'bastard' or two here and there. By the way, I call bullshit when in one scene, Kaz throws acid to form a circle around himself in order to collapse the wooden floor so he and Wylan (I'm not 100% sure it is Wylan in this scene) can make an instant escape through the hole. Well...I think the MythBusters had already busted this myth with the first Underworld movie, right? (5) The characters: Where should I ever start? Kaz: With this book, we are in this 'All hail Kaz and his awesomeness' circus all over again. Then I was gasping in shock and anger when Kaz simply allowed someone who had betrayed him to live which makes no sense to me (what kind of self-respecting gangster would allow someone who had betrayed him to live, without some good reason!?) Plus the more I read, the more I realized he is a sorry excuse for a representative of disable people when his disability is only mentioned whenever his creator remembered to put it in the story like adding a footnote. To add insult to injury, Kaz managed to carry an injured woman in book 1 and a character with two healthy legs has to walk faster to catch up with him and he successfully faces down a bunch of gangsters with nothing but his cane in book 2. I know, I know disable people can do amazing things and doing all kind of sports when they are well trained for that, but running long distance while carrying a woman (no matter how smallish and light she is supposed to be) is really getting unrealistic. Inej: First thing, I like Inej but sadly she is getting lame and undeveloped in this book, I don't learn one single new thing about her throughout this book. In book 1, I was told over, and over, and over again how Inej is the greatest and most feared assassin in town, but in this book she just......simply isn't anymore? Suddenly she is just some girl learning how to fight from Kaz and from some street fights within the length of one full year? Are you kidding me? Then there comes Dunyasha, the white, merciless, deadly mirror image to Inej's Wraith persona. The hostility between Inej and Dunyasha could have been awesome but unluckily Dunyasha comes into the picture way too late so she never gets a chance to become a worthy and full-formed foe to Inej, instead Dunyasha seems to be used by Bardugo as an excuse for Inej to do soul-searching and think about which direction her life is taking her. Character doing soul-searching is great, but in Inej's case, I don't like how it is done. Also, considering all the abuse Inej had suffered and the long line of men who had used her as an object in the whore house, I have no idea why would Inej develop any romantic feeling toward Kaz and how can she manage to see the supposed 'hidden kindness' within Kaz? I can understand she respects him for his capability, or she feels obligated to him because he had bothered to save her from the whore house and gave her a place to stay , but...LOVE? I just don't understand! Wylan: It is great that Special Education Needs/learning disorder and how ignorance and prejudice makes SEN children's lives miserable is addressed in the story. I truly appreciate that but I'm a bit letdown by the cliche that whilst Wylan can't read, he turns out to be a genius on chemistry, that really makes me feel like Wylan is getting a consolation award for having learning disorder. Then in the end, Kaz manages to make Wylan (view spoiler)[read from a document by the help of music and tunes? What is that? I know music can very much help you memorize things and words, but I am still skeptical. According to my highly limited knowledge, it most likely can't help you magically becoming able to read when you happen to have reading disorder. (hide spoiler)] Jesper: In this book, the major point about his character is the fact that he is gay and his relationship with some other boys (sorry to say that, but I have zero interest with this guy's love life). Even the appearance of his father and the revelation that (view spoiler)[he is in fact a Grisha (hide spoiler)] can't redeem his flat characterization, how sad. Plus, just what kind of fool would think of gambling in the middle of a mission!? Nina: Okay, she is an okay character in this book, her reasoning, her attitude and her romance with Matthias actually makes sense. Matthias: He barely has any new development since he pretty much had made peace with his past and his romantic relationship with Nina is settled already, but because of Nina he also appearing to be an okay character to me. Kuwei Yul-Bo: For the first half of the book he is barely in the story---because he pretty much got replaced by another character in the first half---therefore I rarely see anything which can reveal his personality, then for the rest of the story he is just this trophy person who is fought over by everyone like a prized object, just like this Asian Keymaker guy in Matrix Reloaded. That's it. The villains: When supposedly there are three nations in total all going after our MCs, and the city's own armed guards are looking up and down for those MCs, the main villains in the story seem utterly underwhelming, (view spoiler)[the Shu Han people and their mutant soldiers barely have any feature to be spoken of, Pekka Rollins is barely in the story and his final defeat is kind of pathetic. Van Eck, Wylan's father, seems scary enough when he kidnapped Inej and toyed with her but soon after even Van Eck looks kind of lame. Plus a lot of things we learnt about these villains are revealed in a 'Tell, not Show' manner. Featureless villains like this really makes Kaz's victory look kind of...too easy? (hide spoiler)] (6) The romance: Ever since the first book, I have no interest in the 'will they, won't they?' thingy between Kaz and Inej, For most of the 2 books Kaz constantly puts Inej down with his words and making her believe her only worth is her ability to finish her tasks and I found this kind of attitude truly hateful and I was actually glad Inej eventually decided she had done waiting for Kaz and wanting to leave and chase her dreams by the end of book 1. So imagine my disappointment when I found like every other YA girl, Inej (view spoiler)[ decided to wait for Kaz to come around once more by the end of book 2? I just can't deal with it. Even when Kaz really did make up with Inej in the very end but it's already too late. (hide spoiler)] The only saving grace about the romance between Kaz and Inej is that they didn't just simply fall into each other's arms by the end, because...given all the shits these two had been endured, these two damaged persons just couldn't be healed magically by the almighty power of true love, plus they seem to both realize they actually have better things to do with their lives than pinning after each other; I view it as a somewhat good message for the teenage readers. Not to mention it is rather annoying to have ever main characters to be paired off when most of these pairings are just as romantic as a piece of wood (Nina's relationship with Matthias being the exculsion). Talking about romance, I have to move on to Point #7.... (7) Uninteresting gay romances and trophy LGTB/People of Colors characters make me yawn: Perhaps I have been spoiled by too many yaoi manga/novels and fictions which always have boy/boy romance or yaoi relationships front and center therefore I have zero interest in the awkwardly written, bland and flavorless gay romance in both SoC or CK. I know gay romance getting mentioned in YA novels is a good thing, still I had read LGTB romances from a few other YA novels which are far hotter than this one so......sorry to be harsh, this whole Jesper/Wylan business is bloodless at best, embarrassing at worst. Plus people just won't shut up about how there are many People of Colors (e.g. Inej, Jesper, etc) in the story, but whenever I think more closely about this, the presence of those POC characters feel more like trophies than anything. (8) It literally takes forever to get to the exciting parts: The same thing happened in SoC, and thanks again to the endless flashbacks and romances, I had to crawl through a lot of dull chapters and paragraphs before anything exciting can takes place. The final words:The ending of this book seems to be hinting at further developments for some of the characters or even upcoming sequels, but at this point I would like to say: 'Thanks, but no thanks.' ...more |
Notes are private!
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2
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Jan 19, 2018
not set
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Mar 30, 2018
not set
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Jan 19, 2018
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Kindle Edition
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| Liu, Ken
*
| 1481424270
| 9781481424271
| 1481424270
| 3.79
| 23,704
| Apr 07, 2015
| Apr 07, 2015
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did not like it
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DNF-ed at page 340. Rating: 1 stars on principle of 'I don't think too highly on people passing their Rating: 1 stars on principle of 'I don't think too highly on people passing their Random Thoughts when reading the book: The opening scene does remind me of Records of the Grand Historian, and the Biographies of the Assassins. Actual review starts here: What I think should be the real title of this book: Chu-Han Contention, the Edited@09/03/2021 But wait, to think about it more carefully, calling this book 'fanfic' would be an insult to all the fanfics out there because with fanfics, at least the writers wouldn't go so far as borrowing all the canon characters and plots which aren't their own, renaming those characters, publishing their fanfics and at the same time pretending these are their original novels, just like Ken Liu had done. Just in case you are not familiar with Chinese history and you have no idea what the hell is the Chu-Han Contention, here is some basic information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chu%E2%... It is so, so sad that so far I can only find a few reviewers like this, this one and that one who have ever mentioned the total lack of originality on Ken Liu's part. At this point, I can pretty much hear Ken Liu laughing all the way to the bank and he does have every reason to laugh: because what can be more convenient than Let me repeat again what is the main problem: the novel is basically a copy-and-paste So, exactly how bad is the problem? As so as I read through the first 100 pages of the book, I found I have a bone to pick with Ken Liu:
Plus, isn't this Xana Empire and its Emperor in the novel are basically the Qin Empire and the First Emperor, a.k.a King Zheng of Qin, a.k.a Qin Shi Huang, going by with other names? Therefore, a huge amount of credits should have gone to... (1) Sima Qian: the famed historian from around 130 B.C. who penned Records of the Grand Historian, who recorded and immortalized the deeds of the First Emperor, Lau Bang, Xiang Yu and many others. Good for Ken Liu that Sima Qian is a long dead historian so Sima just cannot sue. At this point, I would just recommend people to read the 'Records of the Grand Historian' instead, especially the 'Biographies of the Assassins' part if court intrigue and assassination plots are your things. The Chu-Han Contention part from the Records of the Grand Historian basically has the same crew of characters, the same story from start to end, without the fantasy elements but with some terrifying writing...at least I like the writing when I read it in Chinese. I can tell you 'Records of the Grand Historian' is not just some dry history book but a worthy literature all on its own. (2) The countless other historians, script writers, story-tellers, novelists, play writers who rewrote and retold the epic tales about the Fall of the Qin Empire and the Rise of the Han Dynasty and kept these legendary events alive through millenniums. So, why is there a problem? Let's do a checklist: (1) It isn't just the First Emperor, Lau Bang and Xiang Yu being lifted from historical texts, even the supporting characters, the secondary characters and the third-ranking characters in The Grace of Kings can all find their actually-existed historical counterparts in the history books. (2) To add insult to injury, Mr. Liu didn't even bother to change much of anything out of the source materials (perhaps expects of the airships, we can't find these in ancient China, right?): so there were Seven Warring States in the history of China? Good, Mr. Liu has Seven States in his fictional world too. So according to Sima Qian, there was a failed attempt at the First Emperor's life when the guy was having a grand tour across his Empire? Good, this dramatic scene is covered in the very first chapter of this novel. So both Lau Bang and Xiang Yu got a glimpse of the First Emperor when the latter traveled across cities? Good, Kuni and Mata from the novel would do just the same. So there was a tragic romance between Xiang Yu the Hegemon and his Concubine Yu? Good, this famous tragic love story gets a repeat in the story of Mata Zyndu the Hegemon and Lady Mira in the novel as well. Examples like these are endless. (3) Last but not least, many poems by famous Chinese poets, many songs, many slang and quite a number of teaching from ancient Chinese sages, also mysteriously found their ways into the fictional world of Xana Empire, into the mouths of many fictional characters too... (4) My point is, it seems to me that before Ken Liu even sat himself down and started penning this novel, most of the hard labor a novelist must have gone through when creating his/her novel: researching, dramatization of the events, characterization and even the characters' setting had already been done by Sima Qian and the other historians and novelists, etc. How convenient. (5) My point is, it's okay to base your stories on real history and historical figures, after all these historical figures and events are no copyrighted items, right? But would you please don't be so obvious, please? And here is something I have for readers who are still wondering: 'what is the problem here?' Let me ask you one thing: can you take a 'epic high fantasy novel' seriously after you discover said 'high fantasy epic' is actually the author lifting the entire period of World War II from history textbook then placing it on a supposed fantasy landscape, then renaming famous historical figures such as Hitler and Churchill into some other names else, renaming the locations, adding a few magical elements into the story, and then call it a day. Can you really tolerate this kind of 'novel-writing'? I can understand authors getting inspired by Chinese history or basing their stories and characters on said history, but a copy-and-paste rip-off from the actual Chinese history ---so far, all Mr. Liu had seemingly done for this story is to draw up a map for some fantasy landscapes, changed a bit of the details, created eight gods/goddesses, renaming historical figures---is not really okay in my book. I know, Ken Liu has make no secret where his inspiration came from, but copying the historical events in Chinese history, translating them into English, then puts them in a high fantasy backdrop and sells it to English speaking audience, still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It feels like Mr. Liu believes his audience is too ignorant, too uninformed, too innocent to discover what he is up to. It might sound like I hate this book, but actually I don't. It's enjoyable to read, Mr. Liu does has his elegant way of writing, a fine touch with constructing details for his fictional world, and many good and beautiful use of metaphors (although not many of them are truly original but I can live with it) and the plot is so easy to follow because most of them are already familiar to me and my reading progress is the same like people keep finding Easter Eggs in MCU movies ('Look! I'd read about this or that scene, or this or that characters from history book before! ') . PS: if you are interested in reading martial art historical and/or fantasy novels with a lick more of originality, do try the novels by Liang Yusheng, Jin Yong or Gu Long. These are the Big Three in the field of the martial art novels anyway. PSS: I've just found out this book was translated to Chinese and published by a publisher from mainland China. On a popular internet platform, many readers from mainland China are just as disappointed by Ken Liu's copying and pasting Chinese history and pretending he wrote his own story as I am: https://book.douban.com/subject/27120... If you want to read those comments above translated into English, check this link. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Aug 2018
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Aug 29, 2018
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Nov 11, 2017
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Hardcover
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| 986235528X
| 9789862355282
| 986235528X
| 4.03
| 17,728
| Mar 29, 2016
| Aug 06, 2016
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Review for Half Wild: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... Half Lost: DNF-ed@ around page 50. I'm so dishearted that I don't even give it any ratin Review for Half Wild: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... Half Lost: DNF-ed@ around page 50. I'm so dishearted that I don't even give it any rating, because even rating it 1 star feels like a waste of my effort. I had ran out of patience for this book and this series. I mean, who has patience for 'chasing Annalise' round 2? Plus as far as I can see there is still not much explanation for this fictional world, the author still continues to expect us to take her poor creations serious without asking any question of 'how', 'what' and 'why'. I will be honest with you, I decided to quit this book after I skimmed to the ending part and found THESE happen: (view spoiler)[ (1) Gabriel, the LGTB main character, died in the ending part in order to.......to make the ending more tragic and realistic, I guess? Of course the LGTB teen just needs to die to make the story tragic, right? (2) Ethan, the bisexual main character, grieved constantly for Gabriel till he decided to finally off himself by becoming a mother fucking tree at 22 years old. Com' on! Even Katniss Everdeen, who became a total weakling in the godforsaken Mockingjay, didn't kill herself after losing her sister. Plus, a young man just has to commit suicide after losing his loved ones without having a chance to heal his wounds, move on and find a new love. He just has to off himself and leaves his older brother (who had lost their parents, grandmother and sister within 5 or so years) behind with nothing but an evil bitch sister as company. To sweeten the deal, we didn't even know Ethan can turn into anything other than animals before he changes himself into a mother fucking tree. Sally Green, you cheater! (3) I also found that after Ethan survived a traumatizing war, losing his boyfriend, his friends and allies, his older brother Arron still only bothers to visit him twice a month. It really is a shinning example of brotherly love, right? (4) Ethan found out his old girlfriend Annalise had given birth to his son, but he won't bother to see said son, not once. ARGH!!!! Ethan is even worse than his own father! (hide spoiler)] Sally Green, you have been blacklisted. PS: Burn Mark and Lexicon are both books which are performing MUCH better than this one. ...more |
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1
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not set
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not set
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Aug 05, 2017
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Paperback
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| 0399549781
| 9780399549786
| 0399549781
| 3.73
| 16,500
| Jan 02, 2018
| Jan 02, 2018
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did not like it
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Rating: 1-angry-this-is-not-my-Batman-star.
The existence of this book is quite an insult to Batman and this book reads like it was written by som
Rating: 1-angry-this-is-not-my-Batman-star.
The existence of this book is quite an insult to Batman and this book reads like it was written by some third-ranked comic-script-writer who doesn't know enough of a thing about Batman and what he stands for. I have a feeling that if Bruce Wayne's parents were killed by a young pretty girl, this version of Bruce would have forgiven her too. How insulting. [image] I just won't forgive Marie Lu or whoever else is responsible for reducing Bruce Wayne into a hapless young man who thinks with his dick instead of his brain (I know he is only 18 years old in this story, but it is still unforgivable), and the whole mother fucking nonsense about people doing community service in the fucking Arkham Asylum. [image] Plus, if the whole Bruce/Madeleine thingy is supposed to be a nod to Silence Of the Lambs then double shame on you, Marie Lu. [image] Honestly, if you wanted some decent Batman's origin story, try Frank Miller's Batman: Year One. It's for your own good. edited@08/05/2019: Guess what........I've been soaking myself in Batman online fanfics for months and I swear to the BatGod that I'd read plenty of better written, closer-to-canon-fanfics with better-constructed characters, better-plotted romances and much deeper understanding to the characters' mentalities than this... and those good fanfic writers have never charged me anything for their good works. edited@08/11/2018: *angry rant* ONLY STUPID PEOPLE WOULD BELIEVE BRUCE WAYNE BEING SENTENCED TO DO COMMUNITY SERVICE IN *ARKHAM ASYLUM* IS A REALISTIC, BELIEVABLE IDEA! THAT'S JUST STUPID, STUPID! [image] Plus it turns out the girl (view spoiler)[didn't kill those people it is her evil older brother who did these? (hide spoiler)] How convenient! Pre-review: Sorry about this, Marie Lu. But I just don't believe you can outdo and outshine Frank Miller, Jeph Loeb, Grant Morrison, Alan Moore, etc. Plus, the mother freaking Arkham Asylum is an asylum for the criminally insane, not somewhere for a young rich deviant to do mother freaking community service in. Please don't insult the readers. People doing community service in the goddamn Arkham Asylum? Does it even make sense? For me, a reader who began her serious Bat-reading with Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth , it feels like a mother freaking slap in the face. Can we have some good-old 'grim and gritty' B-man instead of a YA one? [image] And here is some more good-old Batman/Black Canry's down and dirty...'action' scene: https://moviepilot.com/posts/2552441 PS: Frank Miller's All-Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder series is just so full of 'Goddamn Batman' and funny meme-worthy panels! LOL PSS: I can't spam this 'I'm the Goddamn Batman' joke enough: http://jsos.deviantart.com/art/I-am-t... [image] PSSS: Sorry to be harsh, but i'd just heard rumors about an upcoming Nightwing book, so...would someone please keep Nightwing and his nice butt away from this Marie Lu person? PSSSS: a review by fellow comic fan Chad: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ...more |
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1
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Oct 28, 2018
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Nov 11, 2018
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Jul 28, 2017
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Hardcover
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| 4.06
| 71,338
| May 12, 2015
| May 12, 2015
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it was ok
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Review for book 2: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... (1) The final battle is the only thing that saves this book from being a one star disaster. Review for book 2: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... (1) The final battle is the only thing that saves this book from being a one star disaster. (2) Though the final battle is decent, still the ending is rather on the piss poor side. (3) To my outrage, nothing...nothing about the angel's society, how said society works, whether there are female angels or not and why they are invading Earth NOW is ever explained. (4) Mark my words, those angels in this book are just a bunch of self-righteous bullies with wings and fearsome power. Plus they are just so fucking stupid, (view spoiler)[Their former leader Gabriel was killed under suspicious consequence! None of them knows why they are invading Earth now! Still no one is asking question! (hide spoiler)] To be frank, for a race of ageless angelic warriors, these angels have no deeper thoughts, no deeper motivation nor insight beneath their handsome appearance. No nothing. (5) Young Penryn, why must you go from a survivor with her common sense intact to a love-sick little girl? Now you aren't must better than Bella Swan. (6) And of course Young Penryn has to be Too Stupid To Live when facing an evil angel who has every reason to want harming her. (7) Yes, I keep calling the heroine 'Young Penryn' because since she is an Asian character, then that's exactly how her name is pronounced. Deal with it. (8) Young Penryn's mother and younger sister are the only characters whom I care about. The rest of them, I don't care if they live or die. Strangely enough, in this book I know more about Belial (one of the arch villains), his backstory and his reason more than I know about anyone else's. (9) Young Penryn *finally* shows some awareness on responsibility and teamwork by the end of this book, but all has came too little, too late for me. (10) I cannot forgive Young Penryn for molesting Raffe *in his sleep*. Listen up, folks: I don't want a guy to touch me in my sleep, therefore I won't forgive a girl for molesting a guy when he is out cold. (11) Of course, Young Penryn's mother, despite her coolness, is never dignified by being given a name in the story (or at least I don't remember ever learning her name). Plus her seemingly psychic ability is never explained. (12) In book 2, Young Penryn's mother is blaming Young Penryn for not keeping Paige safe and condemning her for being 'demon's bride', but in this book she shows concern over Young Penryn's safety, out of the blue? And we are all expected to accept her change because 'she is crazy and unpredictable'? (13) Mother. Fucking. Romance. Angst. Happens. When. Young Penryn. And. Rafee. Are. On. The. Run. And. The. World. Is. Falling. Apart. Around. Them. (14) After suffering an angel's invasion and the entire world turned into a war zone, Young Penryn still has the time and strength to go angst about not being able to be with Raffe? I had thought after seeing all the suffering, she would have been cool with accepting both she and Raffe have their own different responsibilities and have to do the necessaries! (15) God, you fucking asshole! How can you throw your own angels to Hell and let them suffer just because those angels got married with humans?! (view spoiler)[ But does God really ever exist in this fictional world? (hide spoiler)] Again, it is unexplained! (16) I am more than willing to admit Susan Ee has creative, nontraditional ideas for her story, but damn..........she sucks so much at excising these ideas and doing some planning for her books. (17) Due to the lack of planning, explanation and world building in this series, now I think it's reasonable to believe Susan Ee had never thought about how her story should go after finishing Angelfall. (18) To be honest, I manged to read to the end after I stopped caring about logic and explanation of many things (e.g. how the final battle is prepared and the twin's many outlandish actions and decisions). (19) Last but not least, to put insult to injuries, (view spoiler)[Raffe gets his wing fixed and Paige is miraculously cured out of the blue (hide spoiler)], here Susan Ee is just down right insulting her readers. The Final Words: I am not going to read any more book by Susan Ee, blacklisted. PS: Ferdy's review listed out all the things which I found off-putting/stupid/ridiculous in this book. ...more |
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1
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Mar 14, 2017
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Mar 17, 2017
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Mar 13, 2017
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Kindle Edition
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| 1477867287
| 9781477867280
| B00DBE1P2Y
| 4.14
| 105,431
| Nov 19, 2013
| Nov 19, 2013
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liked it
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Review for book 1: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... Note: I read the Chinese translation of this book, won't bother to read the English version Review for book 1: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... Note: I read the Chinese translation of this book, won't bother to read the English version. (1) World After is an improvement over Angelfall, which in my opinion is grossly overrated and not at all well written. (2) There is a sense of direction in this second book (which is solely lacking in book 1) and the story telling does improve, that's it. (3) Penryn isn't your typical useless Mary Sue YA heroine. She gets things done, she makes decisions to save her family, she doesn't whine about the hardship she faces. Last but not least she now shows more concern for her fellow humans. But I still can't forgive her for not able to look her little sister in the eyes or at least hug her because the latter is 'monstrous' to look at now. (4) On the other hand, Penryn's little sister Paige, alongside Penryn's mother, earns her place as my favorite character in this book. (5) Most of the story isn't interesting (Penryn goes here and there, Raffe shows up once in a while...can we just move on?)...until the ending part, the ending is the only reason why I gave this book 3 stars instead of 2. (6) The world building and the mythology is still piss poor in this second book. Barely anything about the angels, demons and God is ever mentioned or explained. Plus the Arch Angel Raphael=Wrath of God? Where did Susan Ee get this piece of information from!? (7) Still, I like the setting of angels=God's merciless army who don't give a shit about humans' lives. It's at the very least a refreshing idea in the realm of Yong Adult novels. (8)I will say it again here: it's a stupid and pathetic idea for all angel to get a vote to elect the new angelic leader *to lead the God's army *. Since when has Heaven been ran by democracy? That's just freaking pathetic. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Mar 02, 2017
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Mar 13, 2017
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Mar 02, 2017
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Kindle Edition
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| 4.65
| 2,398,456
| May 03, 2016
| May 03, 2016
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did not like it
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Pre-review: I'm positive that there will be a love triangle in this sequel. And here we are, a very spot-on review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/sh Pre-review: I'm positive that there will be a love triangle in this sequel. And here we are, a very spot-on review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... 44 pages into the story, and I found this review to be far more entertaining than the book itself. Note: in the upcoming review, I will continue to use photos from Jean Cocteau's movies, not because Sarah J. Maas' creation deserves to be put in the same place with Cocteau's grand works of art, but because Cocteau's movies deserve more viewing. Information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Co... Edited@15/01/2017 Important Note 1: Be alerted Cassandra Clare! Your position as the mighty Queen of Inconsistency and Creator of Terrible Romance and Unlikable Mary Sues is now threatened by a worthy challenger! And the name of this worthy challenger is Sarah J. Maas! Important Note 2: I don't have many good things to say about Leigh Bardugo's YA novels and her writing, but I feel bad for her book Crooked Kingdom for losing the 2016 Best YA Fantasy Award to A Court of Mist and Fury, because I honestly can't see how Bardugo can do a worse job than SJM here. Important Note 3: Okay guys. The [image] (Link: http://giphy.com/gifs/jean-cocteau-Ss...) Important Note 4: Be alerted that this review contents unmarked spoilers for the ending of the first book and this book itself! Important Note 5: I felt my hope to humanity DYING after Wilde reminded me of THIS:
There really is no righteousness in this world and I really, really hate to see Catwoman having a go with Batman and all the other hot guys in the Batman comic series. I will definitely hate it. [image] (Link: http://giphy.com/search/le-pote) Edited@08/01/2017: I can hardly believe it. In my review for the previous book of this series, I'd mentioned the last 100+ pages of ACOTAR is the good part of the story (the first 290 pages are bad), but now........within the first 130 pages of ACOMAF, Ms. Maas has already managed to undo the good things she created in those last 100+ pages in the prequel: [image] (Link: http://giphy.com/gifs/maudit-maudit-j...) Remember Beauty and the Beast? In this fable, the Beauty got to look beyond the Beast's ugly and frightening appearance, and saw the man within who is still wroth redeeming and loving. Turns out, THIS does not happen in Feyre's relationship with Tamlin. Turns out Feyre doesn't know Tamlin very well, she hasn't seen anything outside of the High Lord's masked face and his beautiful male flesh. Talking about beautiful male flesh, we actually have some here: [image] (Link: http://giphy.com/gifs/jean-cocteau-fn...) Turns out there isn't much in their relationship outside of raging sex drive and lust. In Beauty and the Beast, the Beast finally puts his selfishness aside, becomes willing to sacrifice himself in exchange for the Beauty's happiness. Turns out, THIS does not happen to Tamlin, because Ms. Maas decided to give him a 180 degree personality shift, undoing the sacrifice he made at the end of ACOTAR, leaving his choice of letting Feyre go to be accounted for nothing. Turns out, Tamlin also doesn't know much about Feyre, he never acknowledges or respects her strength and personality, and it sucks. It sucks so much. Oh, so you think now I'm Team Rhysand? No, because Rhys has become so much of a boring, 'can-do-no-wrong' saint in this book that I can't stand him. Not to mention, it's okay for Rhys to drug Feyre, having her dancing half naked in front of everyone, unable to resist anything that was done to her or control her body in the previous book. No big deal, really, because Rhys is hot. And no, in Ms. Maas's mind, there is no such thing as 'the heroine staying single and getting on with her life independently'. No, nap. Nada. I have a feeling this novel will be such a feast of Fuck-ery. My review for the prequel Actual review starts here: Let's do a quick breakdown, first let's start with the characters : Feyre: Who the hell are you? This MC we get to see in ACOMAF isn't the same person whom I got to know in ACOTAR. First, the Feyre from ACOTAR wouldn't have spent so much time to whine about herself being 'bad' and 'broken', she also wouldn't have tolerated half of the craps she had been subjected to, nor would she have allowed Tamlin to tell her what to do. Secondly, it really is off-putting to see the MC becoming such a massive Mary Sue that now she has the power of seven courts, she becomes desirable by two powerful High Lords, and she also has become so, so flawlessly beautiful. [image] (Link: http://giphy.com/gifs/jean-cocteau-JN...) I want to puke. Rhysand: Again, who the hell are you? Gone is the mysterious, half-villainous, interesting High Lord of the Night Court from the first book, in his place we get this boring, love-sicked, 'can-do-no-wrong' Perfect Boyfriend who is so loving, so selfless, so open-minded, so 'feminist' that he literally is a saint reincarnated. Plus his awesomeness is never explained. I mean, why would all the High Lords be narrowed minded and stupid but only Rhys alone is the wisest and the most powerful of them all? Oh really? [image] (Link: http://giphy.com/gifs/jean-cocteau-WD...) Tamlin: I have never been a fan of Tamlin and I HATE to defend him and his behaviors in this book. However, I also truly HATE how SJM had treated him here. Tamlin barely gets any chance to explain himself whilst Rhys can explain himself in great length and his every mistakes and errors in the past are pardoned. It is just so unfair and manipulative. For example: On Tamlin and Feyre's wedding day, Tamlin just acts (view spoiler)["okay you can take her" to Rhys IN FRONT OF EVERYONE? Without even trying to beat Rhys into a bloody mess first for trying to take his bride away from him? (hide spoiler)] It goes against everything I know about Tamlin from book 1! Talking about Out Of Character (OOC-ness for short), it takes the cake! Also, according to Feyre/SJM--it is difficult to tell them apart because the more I read, the more I feel they are one and the same, Tamlin doing bad things out of jealousy is bad and unforgivable, but Rhysand doing bad things out of jealousy (e.g. drugging Feyre and parading her around, threatening both Tamlin and Feyre in ACOTAR) is...excusable? The double standards of this simply leave me gagging. And don't you tell me Rhys had done all these with good intention, Tamlin's behaviors in ACOMAF can also be justified in the same way! Lucien: Once again, who the hell are you? Gone is the loyal Fae warrior with a leveled head and quick wits, who used to be my favorite character. Now he is only a ghost of himself, now he is a wimp who doesn't dare to do anything against Tamlin's order. In fact, in this book, this guy has done NOTHING. Rhysand's Inner Circle: Oh, they are the fun, exciting 'cool' kids whom Feyre befriended. I have absolutely no interest in them. Like Rhys, their open-mindedness and awesomeness is unexplained. Plus I also have a hard time believing 500+ years old, supposedly seasoned Fae warriors like them failed to foresee or at least guess at The King of Hybern's scheme and the betrayal of some certain people. Feyre's sisters: Actually their scenes are the more interesting parts of the story! Almost makes me wish that this story is about them instead of Feyre and Rhys! The King of Hybern and his army: Who cares about them, who!? The plots about the King and his evil scheme to invade the human world and the land of faeries are so vague that they are entirely overshadowed by Feyre's romantic dramas and the entire mate business. As to the romance ...oh the romance... [image] (Link: http://giphy.com/gifs/maudit-maudit-j...) Can any one tell me had this 'bonding' and 'mate' business ever been mentioned in ACOTAR? What is the point of the romance in ACOTAR if everything could be easily canceled out and excused in the name of 'he/she is my mate'!? I need to remind you once more I have never been a fan of Tamlin/Feyre, but if they needed a change of heart then I at least had expected this change of heart and change of partner to be done in a somewhat realistic and meaningful way! Not this SJM's 'but he/she is my mate' treatment! Did I mention there isn't even a love triangle in this story? What SJM had done is simply shoving the old boyfriend (Tamlin) aside to make way for the new love interest (Rhysand). And it's so, so cheap. Later, Feyre finds out Rhys has every reason to hate Tamlin and his people ((view spoiler)[Tamlin seemingly has a hand in the murder of Rhys' mother and sister (hide spoiler)]), but she still doesn't second guess Rhys' motive of being nice to her?! Instead she decides within the next heartbeat that Tamlin must be the bad guy while Rhys is the noble one. I must admit I can't quite see her logic. Remember by the end of ACOTAR, Feyre had made a bargain with Rhys so she must stay in the Night Court for a whole week in each month for the rest of her life? Originally I was very curious to see how this bargain will play out, I want to see Feyre making new discoveries at the infamous, nightmarish Night Court and getting to know the Court and its people, I want to see how she balances her separated lives in both the Spring Court and the Night Court. But no, SJM cheated me of all these by getting Feyre to (view spoiler)[to stay in the Night Court full time within the first 100 pages! (hide spoiler)] So what is the point of this bargain!? What is the point? As to Rhys/Feyre, if Ryhsand constantly saying lame one-liners and Feyre constantly calling Rhys 'Pig' or other names is supposed to be a romantic development. I'm out of here. Last but not least, it isn't like Feyre is such a mature person when relationship is concerned, in the first book her relationship with Tamlin is clearly based more on lust than understanding; then when Tamlin starts showing flaws in personality and behaviors, it doesn't take long for Feyre to dumb him (and she only write a crappy letter to inform the guy she isn't going back MONTHS after disappearing, she can't even do a face-to-face break up like a grown up). In this book, Feyre seems to lust after Rhys because HE IS PERFECT, but when Rhys so much as keeping *one* secret from her, then she blew up right in his face. Some other reviewers had already pointed out Feyre doesn't love neither Tamlin nor Rhys despite their flaws, she is attracted to them only when they are seemingly perfect to her and giving her everything (e.g. sense of security, material comforts, freedom, etc) she wants. That's it. And the world building ...there isn't much logic beyond the world building, a lot of things just simply are, because of magic. You know? MAGIC. Magic can do so much wonder and explain away so many things that like for example, (view spoiler)[Rhys could conveniently hide an entire city and its people from Amarantha and The King's notice, and wiped everyone's memories about this city. I'm talking about an entire city here! (hide spoiler)] Comparing Brandon Sanderson with SJM feels like a huge insult to Mr. Sanderson. Because honestly, when authors such as Mr. Sanderson, N. K. Jemisin and Robin Hobb working their fingers into bones to create their complicated high fantasy worlds, SJM wasn't even trying when world building is concerned! For example, there isn't much religion and mythology in her faerie society aside from a few mentions about a Mother goddess, some priestesses and that...magical thing which supposedly created the world. Just as convenient is that Rhys (view spoiler)[has two Courts instead of just one, and all the bad things he and the Court of Nightmare had done are only a cover for the noble, good-natural Court of Dreams. (hide spoiler)] Talking about blenching Rhys to make him look like a good guy and canceling out all his bad reputation! To put insult to injure, all of the characters talk like they live in the modern world instead of some mythical faerie realm, these faeries even swear the same way we modern readers do with 'Fuck' and other swear words. It's quite worth mentioning that although there is no love lost among me, Karen Marie Moning and her Fever series (I gave her books mostly 1 or 2 stars), yet I honestly think KMM has a better imagination and world building than SJM. Plus is it just me, or is it Feyre being able to sense The Book of Breathing looks very similar to how Mac can sense the evil Book in Fever series? Also, let me talk about the lack of logic and common sense in this story in general: In ACOMAF, Rhysand reveals that he has a (view spoiler)[hidden city within the Night Court, which has stayed hidden for thousands of years. Not only this, Amarantha also failed to catch wind about this city for a long 50 years because of magic, of course. Yet, said hidden city has always been wealthy and awesome when everyone else were suffering under Amarantha's thumb. Why are they wealthy, you ask? SJM tells us they are rich because the city has been doing TRADES with other people. What other people, you ask? We never know. Because even when there are magic and wands to wipe travelers' memories about this hidden city, they have still managed to find their way back to said city and do trades with them and keep them rich. (hide spoiler)] Don't ask me where is the logic of all these, just don't. By around page 40 or 50, Rhys reveals that he wants Tamlin's association so they can join force to face down The King of Hybern's upcoming invasion. OMFG this sounds like a joke coming from Ryhs' mouth! Seriously, who would threat the person who is an potential ally with his girlfriend's life? Who would order said potential ally to kneel and bow? Who would (view spoiler)[spirit his potential ally's bride away from him, right in front of everyone (hide spoiler)] ? What is the logic of all these? *kills self* [image] (Link: http://giphy.com/gifs/jean-cocteau-kZ...) Plus The King of Hybern---this guy is so evil that he doesn't even have a name, not to mention he is also one of the few unpretty characters in the book because, you know, evil people must be bad looking! Anyway, The King, who rules his smaller island kingdom, still plans to conquer the seven faerie Courts AND the mortal realm which are larger in size and theoretically have more manpower at their dispose. Somehow, The King's scheme reminds me so much of how the Japanese Empire trying to conquer China back in World War II, and we all know where the Japanese's ambitious plan had led them to. Okay...China had endured eight years of bloody battles against the Japanese invaders before they were eventually driven off but...I think you get my message here, right? Now, let's talk about the sex : First thing: I'm disgusted to see so much *in detail* sex within in this book which is marketed as a Young Adult novel, it sickens me not because I think teenagers shouldn't read about sex in a YA book, but because the sex in this book is highly romanticized, unrealistic and there is no concern over protection or the real consequences of sex. Basically, SJM has just penned down some crappy sex scenes you can find in badly written romance novels (for adults) and sold it to sexually curious teenagers (namely 12 years old and above teens, mind you) without a care. I mean, even Kresley Cole, who tends to write a few CHAPTERS of sex scenes for each of her adult paranormal romance novels, has the decency to tone down the sex in her YA paranormal books! I mean, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out 'selling smuts to teenagers=money' is such a 'sure win' formula, and I'm sure SJM and her publisher are no fools. Therefore I'm really shocked to see some reviewers actually think what SJM is doing here is about 'sexual freedom' and/or 'feminism'! My ass! If SJM cared one bit about feminism, she wouldn't have put that crappy 'a woman invited a man to have sex = she is an evil woman' (this slut-shaming things happens around pg. 236, check this out yourself) shit in her own book! I have read my share of paranormal novel/paranormal romance novels too, but the sex description in this book is so crappy that I needed to roll my eyes at this:
[image] (Link: http://giphy.com/gifs/filmlinc-queer-...) That is garbage. Plain and simple. Further more: do I want to see the MC having a man's fingers inside of her or she stroking the male lead's rock hard cock in a YA? The answer to this question is 'No', and I'm sick to my stomach. Last but not least, our heroine's vagina has been described as 'glowing' during one of the sex scenes. Don't laugh, guys. So after the glowing vampires from Twilight....we now have...glowing vaginas. Don't laugh. Finally...let's talk about the ending ... Well...there isn't much to be said about the ending, because nothing but crappy romance/love triangle has taken place during the first 500 pages of the book, the threat of the Evil King only resurfaces in the last 100 or so pages, and the Evil King just..........(view spoiler)[lets everyone escape in the last minute? He doesn't even kill Feyre's sisters off on the spot just to hurt Feyre? (hide spoiler)] OMFG! That Evil King is just so very, very scary! I mean it! [image] (Link: http://giphy.com/gifs/jean-cocteau-l4...) The Final Words: I desperately need more Jean Cocteau related 'people shooting themselves in the heads' gifs for this review because that's how I feel about this book. But since there aren't enough gifs, let's make do with this one: [image] (Link: http://giphy.com/gifs/black-and-white...) ...more |
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1
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Jan 2017
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Jan 27, 2017
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Nov 13, 2016
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Kindle Edition
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| 986344250X
| 9789863442509
| 986344250X
| 4.06
| 62,746
| Nov 04, 2014
| Aug 01, 2015
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did not like it
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My thoughts after reading The Retribution of Mara Dyer@06/12/2016:
Fxxk you, Mara Dyer. Fxxk your special snowflake romance with this jerk Noah and My thoughts after reading The Retribution of Mara Dyer@06/12/2016: Fxxk you, Mara Dyer. Fxxk your special snowflake romance with this jerk Noah and your bullshit story. Fxxk you for bullshiting me throughout three whole books and wasting my time. Michelle Hodkin, for the sake of literature and saving some innocent trees from dying to provide paper to print your ridiculous books, I hope you will never get published again. This trilogy has so much potential, but all is lost because of the poorly written romance, the Mary Sue heroine and the confusing story lines. At this point I'm beyond being polite and respectful toward this trilogy and its creator. Rating: one of the worst books I've ever read in my life 20 negative stars. Theoretically, the Mara Dyer trilogy comes with a nice package which I'd usually adore and praise to no end, such as: (1) Psychological thriller. (2) Spooky events and happenings. (3) People dying left and right, with hardly any reason. (4) A heroine with destructive power to harm and kill people, and she uses it. (5) Shadowy, evil scientists and human experiments! (6) The heroine mentioned above at the verge of losing her sanity, and she keeps seeing crazy delusion of all sorts. Seriously, for a person who loves to read dark fantasy and other crazy stuff as much as I do, what is not to love here? Newsflashes: I'm wrong, I am so wrong; and Ms. Hodkin has done absolutely nothing to change my view throughout three whole books. Let's do a breakdown: The good stuff: Mara's escape with Jamie and Stella, and the scenes with them together. And Noah is nowhere in sight in those Mara/Jamie/Stella scenes! The bad stuff: (1) Mara Dyer is a Mary Sue Well....when Mara is with Jaime and Stella, she really isn't so bad........but I swear I did throw up a little in my mouth when Ms. Hodkin spends the last 30 or so pages to praise Mara, through the mouths of Noah, his daddy and Mara's grandmother, for being a super special snowflake that she is! Well.........one of the biggest sign of her being a Mary Sue is that she has done bad things, killed or harmed people, but as readers, we are not supposed to blame her for what had happened, because (view spoiler)[it is the human experiment which is responsible for what she had become (hide spoiler)], oh really? To be fair, in this book Mara does show tiny signs of her owning up to her action, but her attempts still look more on the 'woe is me' side. Mara wants you to believe she is a badass, unapologetic heroine; but the sad thing is, she isn't. At the end of the day, she is only a boy-crazed teenage girl. (2) The awful YA romance A flawed character or a Mary Sue, that much I can deal with, but a romance as awful as Mara and Noah's, that I can't tolerate. Other reviewers had pointed out how selfish they are in their love, like (view spoiler)[how Noah can heal people and do other great good, but he gives it all up to be with Mara anyway. (hide spoiler)] I also want to point out, Mara doesn't seem to have much purpose or desire outside of Noah......okay, the girl cares for her family too, but outside of Noah and her family, she doesn't seem to have anything in her mind. Even Jamie and Stella do not look like they have much importance to her, and from time to time she doesn't seem all that interest in finding out the truth about her and her friends' ordeals, or the truth of her power. (3) The total lack of logic and realism in the story So, Mara and Co. escaped from the mysterious group which kept them as prisoners, lied to their parents and did horrible experiments on them! The teenagers are now on the run and Mara tells us there are people chasing them! So you think you are going to see some action scenes or breathtaking chasing scenes? Well, you are wrong! Throughout the whole book, we see the total of three villains (there are some nameless, faceless guards here and there, but they play little to no role in the story), and I have a hard time believing such a massive evil scheme that needs so much manpower and wealth to support would only involve so little people! Also, by the end of the story, we have two corpses in the room and one teenager being soaked with blood also in the same room, but the next thing we know the cops just let said teenager go!? What the actual fuck? And in the end the super evil bad guy (view spoiler)[Noah's daddy (hide spoiler)] just disappears into the thin air and everyone is off enjoying their happy ever after. No kidding, that really is what happens in the ending part. I swear, I was going to give this book 2 stars because the opening part isn't all that bad, but the last 20 or so pages of this book totally ruin everything for me. (4) The Most Ridiculous Sex Scene Ever, by the end of the story Please don't get me started with this, just don't. Basically it is just super special Mara and super special Noah having their super special first time sex. ARGH! [image] (Link: http://www.deviantart.com/art/DO-NOT-...) The Final Words: This trilogy is so full of bullshits, so it is only logical for me to blacklist its author, end of the story. Review for book 2: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ...more |
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1
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Nov 04, 2016
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Dec 07, 2016
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Nov 04, 2016
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Paperback
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| 9862354143
| 9789862354148
| 9862354143
| 3.86
| 17,674
| Feb 24, 2011
| Jan 06, 2015
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liked it
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Blake Crouch's stand alone novel Run, is quite similar with his previous Wayward Pine trilogy. The story focuses on a married couple who are having re
Blake Crouch's stand alone novel Run, is quite similar with his previous Wayward Pine trilogy. The story focuses on a married couple who are having relationship issues and how this couple reacts to a society-breakdown emergency, and how they struggle to get themselves and their children to safety. The story is action paced and thrilling, it is also an effective page-turner. You can easily fit yourself into the main characters' shoes and share their panic and suffering when they are enduring a crisis of society falling apart, people going nut all of the sudden and start actively killing other people for no reason (sounds a bit like The 5th Wave, I guess?) The details of their survival story are finely and realistically written enough. However, I have problem with how there is no moral lesson beyond the story and its characters. At least with the Wayward Pine trilogy, we have a moral lesson about 'humanity is fucked in a long run', but what is the moral lesson with Run? 'Don't stare up at the Northern Lights because it will turn you into a mother fucking killer?' Are you kidding me? ...more |
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1
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Oct 25, 2016
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Nov 02, 2016
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Oct 25, 2016
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Paperback
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| 0385376618
| 9780385376617
| 0385376618
| 3.70
| 4,238
| Aug 02, 2016
| Aug 02, 2016
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Pre-review: In the second book of the series, the main couple is 'tragically parted' and is suffering with the heartbreak...Okay...are you sure this i
Pre-review: In the second book of the series, the main couple is 'tragically parted' and is suffering with the heartbreak...Okay...are you sure this isn't a rerun of Tiger's Quest? Is the heroine going to date three different guys at once in order to forget her tru luvvvvv?
...more
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0
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not set
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not set
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Sep 06, 2016
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Library Binding
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| 1250095255
| 9781250095251
| 1250095255
| 3.98
| 632,897
| Sep 29, 2016
| Jan 31, 2017
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did not like it
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I picked up Caraval by Stephanie Garber from the library merely because the pretty book cover and the hype on GR and free copy from library! Nothing t
I picked up Caraval by Stephanie Garber from the library merely because the pretty book cover and the hype on GR and free copy from library! Nothing too bad can happen, right? Right? Then around page 140, this happens: Imagine: you are a teenage girl, you are desperately searching for your missing younger sister, and here is a fortune teller, who offers to answer a few questions from you. What will you do? (1) First and foremost, ask said fortune teller where to find your sister. (2) Putting the issue of your missing sister aside, you ask the fortune teller about your future husband and how he is as a person. If you chose (1), good for you! You are a normal and sensible person. So, guess which option had our heroine Scarlett chosen? [image] (Link: https://giphy.com/gifs/hyde-kkOlWc0gH...) DNF-ed at page 208 I feel sad that this book ever manages to become a best seller and getting praised by all those other up-and-coming YA authors (e.g. authors of Shatter Me and An Ember in the Ashes, etc) Shit....these people are some big fat lairs. Well, this book promises MAGIC and DANGER with its premise, and so many characters from within the story had beat me over the head with how DANGEROUS and ENCHANTING this Caraval is supposed to be. But......just where the hell are these promised danger and wonders and magic? After crawling my way through 200+ pages, I still can't find them! Forgive me for being harsh, but I really feel the existence of this book is an offense toward qualified writing and Young Adult Fantasy as a genre. Therefore I would like to talk about some of the most offensive things in this book: No, I'm not saying this book has obvious racism or sexism in it, but the lack of quality itself is offensive enough! My reaction... [image] (Link: https://giphy.com/gifs/90s-s-cEhEHOlx...) (1.) the total toneless-ness of the story: I know Stephanie Garber is a newbie author, but must she write her stuff with zero style, zero significant tone and zero special fragrant? (2.) the total shapelessness in world building: Here we go again: tell, not show, and in a story which is supposed to be filled with magical locations and shocking wonders, I found the author's imaginary to be highly limited and unimpressive. (3.) the total absence of mystery and sense of urgency: The heroine's younger sister is missing! Her father is an asshole who wants to trap her in an unwanted marriage! Said heroine also needs to decide where her life should be going! Tension should be building up, right? We should be worried for the heroine, right? Sadly, thanks to the author's flat writing, we never feel the urgency of the situation. (4.) the author's very poor attempt at character building: The heroine is as interesting as a piece of rock, she also has hardly any insight to offer because she is just so freaking stupid and unfortunately we are doomed to read this story mostly through her POV. (5.) the annoying insta-love and the repeated mention of the male love interest's hotness: I was beat over the head repeatedly by the male lead's hotness and to make matter worse, I can't get over the fact that the heroine is mooning over a guy who had just put his hands up beneath her younger sister's skirt mere days ago. Gross. [image] (Link: https://giphy.com/gifs/marilyn-manson...) Plus, not only the romance is an insta-love, it is also one of the most flat, lifeless, meaningless relationships I'd read in a YA novel. To be very honest, if you wanted to experience magic and wonders through YA books, please try Daughter of Smoke and Bones or The Raven Cycle instead. ...more |
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2
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Dec 09, 2017
not set
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Jan 25, 2018
not set
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Jul 14, 2016
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Hardcover
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| 153308954X
| 9781533089540
| 153308954X
| 3.82
| 30,073
| Mar 17, 2010
| May 03, 2016
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did not like it
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20 'one of the worst books ever' Negative-Stars. For starter, now I can confidentially say I've finally encountered a book which can make Cassandra Cla 20 'one of the worst books ever' Negative-Stars. For starter, now I can confidentially say I've finally encountered a book which can make Cassandra Clare's, Stephenie Meyer and Marie Lu's novels look like decent literature, and this book is My Blood Approves, by Amanda Hocking. So you ask what has gone wrong in this book...? Oh let's me think about it.......just where should I begin? Warning: F-words here and there, don't like don't read. (1) The story is a Twilight's doppelganger Plain Jane main girl meets mysterious handsome boy who saves her from danger? Checks. Endless details of the boring daily life of the Plain Jane main girl? Checks. Vampire boy finds the girl irresistible because her blood is 'special'? Checks. Vampire boy has a rich adoptive family of attractive older vampires? Checks. All of the vampires in the boy's family are sexy and hot-as-fuck? Checks. Plain Jane main girl eagerly wants to ditch being human and embrace vampirism without a backward glance at her mortal family? Checks. Need I go on? (2) Meets Alice, an irredeemable spoiled brat and a Mary Sue who can put Bella Swan into total shame Before I started reading this book, I just couldn't believe how irritating and hateful our Plain Jane main girl, namely Alice, can get. Now it's official: comparing with Alice, Bella Swan from Twilight suddenly looks like a decent and thoughtful character. Plus only Clarissa Fray from City of Bones can outdo Alice at being a completely hateful spoiled brat. Oh boy, how sad. For example, Alice and her younger brother Milo are raised by a single mother. Said mother has been working 12 hours per-day, 70-plus hours per-week to make ends meet,but has the 17 years old Alice ever thought about getting a part time job to help her family? No. Never. The thought has never crossed her mind. Plus, instead of looking after her 14 years old younger brother Milo when their mother is absent, Alice allows Milo to take charge of housekeeping duties. So Milo has to cook and wash FOR BOTH OF THEM whilst Alice is out wandering around streets and clubs at night, hanging out with her BFF and hooking up the hot guy Jack, whom she had just met. To make things even better, Alice doesn't care about her own education, she refuses to do homework even when her brother Milo has to step in to remind her. Look, see. Alice even thinks (view spoiler)[immortality and being a vampire is far more important than continuing her education. (hide spoiler)] *sighs* Because we all understand making out with your hot, perfect undead boyfriend is far more important than learning and going to school. Totally makes sense. By the end of the book, Alice's mother is mad with her for being away from home *all night* without even one phone call, and instead of apologizing Alice runs away from home and goes stay with her rich, hot vampire boyfriend. Not to mention, Alice is...to be frank, stupid. Even though I fully understand we can't expect every single 17 years old kid to be mature and smart, still how stupid must you be to step into the car of a total stranger in the middle of the night, especially right after you had just narrowly escaped being harmed/gang-raped? How stupid must you be to trust a guy who messed with your phone when you passed out? How stupid and thoughtless must you be to throw perfectly fine vegetables away just because you accidentally cut your finger (especially when your family isn't so well-off)? Just how stupid must you be to remain entirely carefree when hanging out with...blood-drinking VAMPIRES who are struggling not to eat you for dinner? I truly have no word. (3) Creepy relationships gets disguised as romance, creepy guys get disguised as sexy love interests Since the story is a photocopy of Twilight, so I am not the one bit surprised that Jack, the vampire, is attracted to Alice because her blood is special and irresistible. 'I want you, I love you because you smell so good I want to EAT you!' How romantic. Trust me, I'm a huge vampire fan but all the talks about the vampire guys get excited by the sound of the girl's pulsing and the smell of her blood is just so fucking goddamn creepy, and gross. If a guy talked like this to me I swear I will tear him apart. Plus, Jack also inserted his own phone number into Alice's cell *without consent* while the girl passed out. I have no word. As to love interest number 2, we get Peter, who is a even bigger creeper than Jack, his 'younger brother' (alright, alright, so instead of a werewolf as the third wheel, we get a vampire one). I don't have many things to say about him aside from the fact he toys with Alice in a 'hot and cold' way, like a cat would toy with a mice it is about to kill. And at the very end the guy finally (view spoiler)[drinks Alice half to death (hide spoiler)], but Alice still lusts after him anyway! Again, just how fucking romantic. (4) Alice is the most annoying narrator ever. It is not easy to hear the thoughts of a 17 years old kid for an entire book, it is nearly unbearable to hear Alice's monologues (which make her sound like a dull eight years old) and her endless complaints about...well, everything and everyone. (5) Many things in the story are just ridiculous. Jack is a 20-something man who is jobless and out of school, he also lives off his older brother, but he is still considered by everyone (especially Alice) as a dreamboat. Everyone--- and I do mean everyone, wants to jump Jack's bones. Alice wants him, her brother Milo wants him, their mother wants to push him to the floor and do him then and there. To tell the truth it really is embarrassing. [image] (Link: http://maidendawn.deviantart.com/art/...) Just as embarrassing is the fact that 100 pages into the story, we get two hot male vampires interest with our Plain Jane main girl Alice already. Since this book is a photocopy of Twilight, therefore all of the vampires that show up have to be unbelievably hot and attractive. The story and the writing itself is so immature that it reminds me of an eight years old little girl playing Princess Game with her Barbie dolls while daydreaming about hot undead boyfriends. And you are telling me books like this get printed and people actually pay to read them? How sad. (6)Where is the plot? Where is the story? 200 pages into the story, I realize this book is one big fat fucking piece of NOTHINGNESS. Things happens but there is barely a story, there is no development, no character's growth, no revelation, no plot twist, no moral lesson, no climax, NOTHING. All we get is a Mary Sue drooling over hot guys. Reading this book felt like a fucking chore, I nearly gave up for many times before I crawled my way to the ending...which mocks me and laughs at me right in my face with its absolute POINTLESSNESS. So here is the final insult: I'd wasted my time for NOTHING. Final words: with this fucking piece of crap (which I decline to call it a 'novel'), Amanda Hocking successfully wins the honor of being a worse author than Stephenie Meyer and Cassandra Clare. Good job, Ms. Hocking. Good job. Pre-review below: 09/07/2016: Today I found the simplified Chinese translation of this book sitting in the library's shelf. So, free book! Free badly written romance! Free jokes! Here I go! PS: and I honestly have no idea whether this simplified Chinese translation got any permission from the original publisher or not... Edited@17/07/2016: 70 pages into the story, I am told that everyone loves the male lead, namely Jack, and I do mean everyone: the Main Girl Alice loves him, her younger brother has a crush on him, their mother wants to jump the guy's bones since the first time she meets him. That is getting ridiculous, and embarrassing. Edited@24/07/2016: Thoughts before finish reading the whole book: I've read 150+ pages into My Blood Approves but absolutely nothing has happened, all I've gotten so far is the Plain Jane main girl Alice's monologues which bored me into tear (who wants to read a teenager girl's monologues when the thoughts in her mind makes her sound like a dull 8 years old?) and the long, useless description of the irresistible male vampires and their irresistible perfection. So far I can tell you this book is even worse than the infamous Twilight, but I shouldn't be so surprised because bad writing like this can also be found in the Trylle series by the same author. The story and the writing is so immature that it reminds me of an 8 years old girl playing Princess Game with her Barbie dolls while day-dreaming about a handful of hot guys drooling over her. And you are telling me books like this got printed and people have been actually paying their hard earned money to read them? How sad. This review and this particular paragraph concludes my feeling to this book so beautifully: ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jul 09, 2016
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Jul 29, 2016
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Jul 09, 2016
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Paperback
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| 0062280791
| 9780062280794
| 0062280791
| 3.83
| 4,237
| Mar 03, 2015
| Mar 03, 2015
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it was ok
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I had heard about Dorothy Must Die but haven't yet read it. As a child I had once read the translated version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and enjoye
I had heard about Dorothy Must Die but haven't yet read it. As a child I had once read the translated version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and enjoyed the amazing fantasy world author L. Frank Baum created. In Dorothy Must Die: Stories, we have three prequels from before the events of Dorothy Must Die The characters in those novellas/prequels are originally based on/from the first two books of The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz series. And here is my thought: No Place Like Oz After reuniting with her Uncle Henry and Aunt Em in Kansas, America. The now-16 years old Dorothy is unhappy and wanting something more in her life. Suddenly a pair of red shoes are sent to her and Dorothy finds herself back to the Land of Oz again...this time with her Uncle and Aunt tagging along, and things have changed greatly: now there is a new ruler in Oz. I appreciate what Danielle Paige had done for her fictional re-imagined version of Dorothy, for now I can see that it is childish to believe Dorothy could go back to her old life after experiencing the wonder of Oz. However, I don't find the power struggle (view spoiler)[among Ozma, Dorothy and Glinda (hide spoiler)] to be of anything meaningful and those witches in the story are so shallow as characters/rulers (There is little to no explanation for their actions/decisions, nor example of their ruling and skills). Plus I found it difficult to believe Paige's claim that in Dorothy's first trip to Oz, she was already 14 years old. In my memory Dorothy is a girl who is barely 8 or 9 years old. I am not sure how accurate Paige's claim is. Furthermore, I also have difficulty to accept (view spoiler)[Dorothy goes from a compassionate child into a power crazed, cruel and uncaring princess by the end of the story, to a point that even when her beloved Uncle and Aunt are dying before her eyes, it takes her mere few minutes to recover from it. Although her change is foreshadowed but it isn't done enough in my eyes. (hide spoiler)] And Miss Paige just simply expects me to buy the paper-thinned explanation that 'power corrupts'. *sighs* Plus I really, really need to point out I've been told a lot about the wonders of Oz and magic, but Paige's writing doesn't show nor impress me much of those wonders and magic. Last but not least...am I the only one to see the glimpses of The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making in Dorothy's story? In the end, 3.2 stars. The Witch Must Burn In the first novella, at least I can get a feel of how Dorothy is as a person, how her character develops through the progress of the story; but in this second novella, the MC's personality is so paper-thinned that I simply don't care about her. Not to mention she is one of those 'I have special power that is a game-changer but I didn't know how special I am' YA girls. Plus, I found it rather awful almost every woman in the story is silly. Taking Dorothy and Glinda the Good Witch as examples, they are terrible rulers and they seem to care nothing but their looks and their pretty dresses. *groans* And by the way, the author just beats you over the head in both stories that women who want to have power and/or want to rule are bad women. Not to mention, the plot is quite predictable too, and the power struggle among different groups and the mission to right Oz from wrong feel very shallow. The Wizard Returns DNF around page 40. Look, I thought it would be interesting to read a story from the Wizard of Oz's point of view, and I do think the setting is imaginative enough; but 40 pages into this story, I know I'd thought wrong! Why would the author believe making the Wizard (view spoiler)[lost his memory (hide spoiler)] is a good idea!? And I honestly cannot bring myself to care about the 'trials' the Wizard had to go through, nor the subplot about the rebellion against Dorothy. I don't care, the author gives me nothing to care, not even those Flying Monkeys can make me care! PS: if those prequels are supposed to let us see more of Dorothy, Glinda the Good Witch, the Wizard and the rebels' personalities and motivation then help us to better understand their later actions and decisions, then those stories have failed! Those characters are hardly organic beings in these stories, they are cardboard cutouts as best. PS: It is an afterthought but I cannot help but thinking Dorothy and Princess Ozma in the original stories can be a pair of lesbian lovers. LOL After Note: Today I just found some information about both the author and the publisher of this series. So all of those other books by the same publisher, all blacklisted! (further information: http://bibliodaze.com/2014/10/on-want...) ...more |
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1
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Jan 28, 2016
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Mar 09, 2016
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Jan 28, 2016
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Paperback
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| 0373210582
| 9780373210589
| 0373210582
| 4.03
| 45,280
| Sep 25, 2012
| Sep 25, 2012
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did not like it
|
Reading Progress: This is how I reacted to this book: [image] (Link: http://sammo6661deth.deviantart.com/a...) Actually review here: Note: I read the trans Reading Progress: This is how I reacted to this book: [image] (Link: http://sammo6661deth.deviantart.com/a...) Actually review here: Note: I read the translated version of this book. There is one word I think is the most suitable for this supposed Alice in Wonderland retelling, and this word is ridiculous. (1) Calling this book an Alice-retelling is equated to lying. All of the Alice-references are so poorly done and senseless (a bunch of teenagers throwing a regular beer-and-disco-music party is equated to the Mad Tea Party, great isn't it?) it feels more like an insult to the original text than a respectful homage. (2) This book is more about stupid teenage high school drama and over-the-top love triangles than Alice. I'm not kidding. (3) The heroine Alice (aka Ali) spends a lot of time drooling over the masculine bad boy love interest Cole and fantasizing about making out with him (again I'm not kidding) than grieving over her dead family and worrying about the crisis of zombies going around eating people for dinner. [image] (Link: http://vampirekiki.deviantart.com/art...) (4) As to the zombies....they only have spiritual forms and they are 'eating' the goodness in people then in turn making them zombies too. Why would they do this? Because they are evil. Not because they are hungry or need human flesh to keep their bodies functional. Zombies with no physical forms? Zombies who eat people because they are evil!? Then why would those creatures be zombies at all? Why don't call those creatures 'phantoms' or 'wraiths' instead? Is the author so eager to ride the success of the recent zombie hyper, e.g. The Walking Dead and all those zombie movies out there? (5) All the bullshit about Christianity and God and Good vs. Evil I know, the heroine and her family are Christians, but must she keep talking nonsense about God so very often? I mean, do real-life Christians talk like this? It's so annoying. To make thing worse, even Christian rock bands get mentions here and there. *facepalms* And the nonsense about how the war between zombies and people who can 'see' them is the epic Good vs. Evil battle is also annoying as hell. (6) The basic concepts about man-eating monsters and people who fought them could have worked out just fine if the author actually has some basic writing skill and style to save her life. But she doesn't, so the entire story turns out to be very flat, toneless and fake. The heroine lost her entire family? Monsters stalking her and wanting to eat people? I never felt worry about her and her friends, the writing is just that bad. (7) Last but not least, the heroine's dear dead mother taught her teenage daughter that her virginity is a gift when the good woman was alive. Okay, I'm alright with the 'don't do it when you are not ready and certain' message, but what the actual fuck about this 'virginity is a gift/valuable' BS? It's just downright backward and sexist. Have you ever heard a guy's virginity is a gift before? No? Like never? Now can you see what I mean? ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Nov 07, 2015
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Nov 10, 2015
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Nov 07, 2015
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Hardcover
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my rating |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| 3.38
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did not like it
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Nov 17, 2023
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Feb 16, 2023
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| 3.87
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did not like it
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not set
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Jun 09, 2019
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|||||
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| 3.82
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not set
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Jan 17, 2019
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||||||
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| 3.72
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did not like it
|
Oct 18, 2018
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Oct 06, 2018
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|||||
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| 4.31
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it was ok
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Nov 12, 2018
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Aug 14, 2018
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|||||
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| 4.12
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did not like it
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Mar 29, 2018
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Mar 03, 2018
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|||||
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| 4.59
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it was ok
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Mar 30, 2018
not set
|
Jan 19, 2018
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| Liu, Ken
*
| 3.79
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did not like it
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Aug 29, 2018
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Nov 11, 2017
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||||
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| 4.03
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not set
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Aug 05, 2017
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||||||
|
| 3.73
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did not like it
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Nov 11, 2018
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Jul 28, 2017
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|||||
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| 4.06
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it was ok
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Mar 17, 2017
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Mar 13, 2017
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|||||
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| 4.14
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liked it
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Mar 13, 2017
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Mar 02, 2017
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|||||
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| 4.65
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did not like it
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Jan 27, 2017
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Nov 13, 2016
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|||||
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| 4.06
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did not like it
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Dec 07, 2016
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Nov 04, 2016
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| 3.86
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liked it
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Nov 02, 2016
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Oct 25, 2016
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|||||
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| 3.70
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not set
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Sep 06, 2016
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||||||
|
| 3.98
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did not like it
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Jan 25, 2018
not set
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Jul 14, 2016
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|||||
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| 3.82
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did not like it
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Jul 29, 2016
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Jul 09, 2016
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|||||
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| 3.83
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it was ok
|
Mar 09, 2016
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Jan 28, 2016
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|||||
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| 4.03
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did not like it
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Nov 10, 2015
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Nov 07, 2015
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